bondipom

North QLD that is. Started with a Jetstar flight on one of the new A320s up to Hamilton Island. The pre flight scrummage to grab the best seats was silly but the seats were excellent with plenty of leg room.

Sailed around the Whitsunday islands and went up to Bait reef on an old square rigger. I cannot recommend enough going on a sail around the Whitsundays. The area is beautiful. We met up with a couple of dive boats so I got to see some bull rays and to swim with turtles and huge Maori Wrasse.

The highlight had to be an encounter with some humpback whales which became enamoured with our boat. They were at least 20m long and wouldn't leave us alone. They didn't breach (saw some of that from a distance) but they gave us a great show.

Hamilton Island seemed a bit to civilised after that. The island is nice enough but the huge hotel and the resort is a bit ugly and innappropriate for such an amazing place. The prices were extortionate especially considering the quality of service and food I got. It wasn't bad but just overpriced. It cost me $25 to burn a memory card to CD. I thought $15 at Uluru was bad. The golf buggies cost more than a car to hire so we walked everywhere. If anything I found the noise of all the buggies annoying.

Did a whitehaven trip which was good despite all the daytrippers. Must be great to camp there.

That was followed by a stay on the Cairns Northern Beaches. Good for the timid tourist but I found Cairns a bit of a process line. Went on a Divers Den reef quest visit to the reef. 80 people on board (the Mrs was scared a smaller boat would be a vomit comet). Compared to the Whitsundays it felt crowded but once down diving it was amazing. Saw a 2m reef shark sat on the bottom waiting for food to swim by. The reef there was not in a great state.

The final few days were up in Cape Tribulation which is another amazingly beautiful place in Australia. Pristine rainforest on mountains leading down to the reef is the main attraction. There are plenty of walks, nice sandy beaches and heaps of activities. The reef there was in much better condition. Saw a nurse shark sleeping under a rock.

Hamilton island and the Cairns area were a disappointment but I cannot recommend enough sailing in the Whitsundays and a few days in Cape Tribulation.

gedge

Top post. We've been thinking about what to do with visitors from the UK, and both the Whitsundays and Cape Trib were contenders. Jules and I have done the whitsundays sailing and loved it. Got as far as Cairns (seems it hasn't changed much) but no further north. If you had to choose one which would it be?

bondipom

Sailing in the Whitsundays was incredible and the best part. There was more to see in cape trib (Mrs got ill) and I would like to drive the Bloomfield track (4wd only) up to cooktown. Cape Trib struck me as more unique than the sailing. What time of year will you be going as there will be stingers later on in the year and sailing in the heat could make life unpleasant below deck?

gedge

Good points. It'll be October. We haven't done the east coast in summer. Needs a bit more research I think.

Quinkana

Flew at 100 meters altitude back and forth over that area for a few months in the early 1970's doing aerial magnetic and radiometric surveys.

Turtles awaiting gellyfish being washed through the breaking surf on coral, sharks lazing.

Wing waggling over nude beaches a favorite with the pilots.

Cane fields, escarpment and cockatoos wheeling on rainforest canopy.

Savannah and startled tribes of wild pigs - pigglets with bristling flags for tails.

Coral King, Red Emporer, King Prawns for dinner.

Hippies and dropouts for levened connversations.

Pale tourists by boat on Thurdays a publicans delight.

Don

It pays to get away from the masses when you're diving out of Cairns. Liveaboards like Nimrod take you to pristine reefs off the beaten track.

bondipom

I agree. I wanted to do a liveaboard from Cairns but there were other considerations. Some of the live aboards just have a boat moored up at the standard reefs so research and word of mouth is important.

Peter

Did you travel the Tablelands at all?

bondipom

Not enough time I am afraid. I would rather have changed the Cairns part and hired a car and travelled inland there. Probably what I would have done if I had the choice of booking.